Friday, 29 January 2016

When I am walking round my local supermarket, I not only keep an eye out for bargains, I also look for the word WIN! You would be surprised how many times you see it - and it usually catches your eye on some bold colourful packaging. When I am in the shops with my little cousin, we play a game to see how many times she can spot that winning word - keeps her occupied and her little eagle eyes tend to spot comps that I miss!

On this post, I will be regularly updating it with comps I have seen in store, along with the occasional unbelievable bargain. I will post pictures of the product, so you know what to look for, along with some key points of the T's & C's such as closing date. If these are on sale anywhere, I will try to point that out as well!

If you see any that you would like me to feature (I'll be sure to give you a shout out thanks!) tweet me (@LaurieBeat) or comment below! Happy hunting!

Bodyform - Win a trip to New York

The Prize:Prize Fund: Trip for 2 persons to New York including return economy flights from London, transfers from the airport to the hotel in New York where the winner will share either a twin or double room in a 3* hotel for 3 nights, including breakfast. The trip includes a two day sightseeing hop on-hop off tour bus pass for two and a choice of either two tickets for the Empire State Building Observatory or two tickets for the Top of the Rock Observation deck. Trip also includes either two ferry tickets to visit Liberty Island (Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island, or a 1-hour boat cruise.How to win: Find a pink ticket in the packPurchase required: YesChance to win: 10 pink tickets in totalClosing Date: Claim by 30/6/16Best Place to Buy: Currently £1 in Superdrug

Wilkinson Sword - Day in the Life of Lucy Watson

The prize:The prize consists of a trip to London for the winner and a friend for a luxury day and night experience. The prize includes:

A personal shopper experience at Harvey Nichols, London with £1,000 spending money

A spa trip for two people including a treatment to the value of £100 per person

Lunch for two at the Bluebird Café, Chelsea (availability permitting) which Lucy Watson will attend. Not including alcoholic beverages.

Dinner for two at a top London restaurant (availability permitting). Not including alcoholic beverages.

Return train travel to and from London for the winner and friend up to the value of £50 per person.

One nights stay in a double room in a minimum 4 star hotel designated by the Promoter.

How to win: Enter code found on pack onlinePurchase required: YesChance to win: 1 winnerClosing Date: Enter by 31/03/16 claim prize by 30/6/16

Best Place to Buy: Currently half price in Tesco - £3.50

Crunchy Nut Bars - Win £5

The Prize: £5How to win: Enter code found on pack onlinePurchase required: YesChance to win: The original draw for this is closed, but any codes entered from now on will be entered into a catchall draw that ends on the date below.Closing Date: 02/08/2016

Note that Kellog's Crunchy Nut Cereal also have a promotion on to win 2 months of Now TV - just pick up a promotional pack in store and enter the code online. Open until 31/08/2016

Walkers - UEFA Champions League Prizes

NB: This one doesn't open until 01/02/2016 but is worth pointing out so you don't throw away any packets!The Prize: UEFA and crisp related prizes and a draw for UEFA ticketsHow to win: Enter code found on pack onlinePurchase required: YesChance to win: Winner every hour for smaller prizes one big draw for ticketsClosing Date: 25/04/2016

Bueno - Fashion Prizes

The Prize: Variety of fashion Prizes and a 20% discount for enteringHow to win: Enter code found on pack onlinePurchase required: YesChance to win: 1 of 10 prizes every dayClosing Date: 31/03/2016

Tangerine Confectionary - Sweet Beats Promotion

The Prize:

1 x Beats Studio Headphones.

1 x £25 / €25 iTunes Giftcard.

1 x £100 / €100 Ticketmaster Giftcard.

How to win: Enter code found on pack onlinePurchase required: YesChance to win: The original promotion is closed but there will be a mop up draw where one winner wins the prize mentioned above.Closing Date: 19/04/2016

Actimel - Take on the Day

Other Promotions to Look Out For:

Bernard Matthews: Every week from 22nd January to 4th March a family has a chance to win £100. Just pick up a promotional pack, keeping the label as proof, answer a question on the website and keep your fingers crossed!

Any more, let me know. I just found these on a wee shopping trip when I had an hour off at uni. Shows what you can find when just browsing!

Luck and love

Laurie

(note that prices are all correct of date of posting and all opinions are my own)

Tuesday, 26 January 2016

I get loads of questions about snap chat competitions. The annoying thing about these competitions is that they are really difficult to find...but this is also the best thing. A bit like Instagram competitions, the fact that they are really hard to source means that only dedicated compers will be able to find them and low entry means that there is a much higher chance of winning! Also, as snapchat is on your mobile, it's so easy to enter. For other mobile comping apps, check out this post.

The Basics

So how does snapchat work? For many people it is a fun way to stay in touch with friends, and I myself have sent many a silly selfie to my friends who have moved away, and some to my friends on the other side of the room! To set up, simply download the app, and come up with a username and password. Try to make the username easy to remember as it is what other people will search for when they are looking for you! Here is a screen shot of my homescreen once I have taken a cheesy selfie:

The number 1 is notifications I have of private snaps and chats. Simply swipe to that side to access. The 6 is peoples stories that I haven't viewed yet. This is where the promoters will post their competitions. When you add a photo to your story, it will be accessible for people to view as many times as they want for 24 hours. To do this, when you take a photo and press send, make sure you tick the box that says 'My Story':

To add friends simply touch the ghost icon at the top of the page. This will lead you to a menu screen. Here you will see your own ghost icon or 'Snapcode' (which other people can use to add you) and a few options.

Click the 'Add Friends' icon where you will be lead to a new screen.

Promoters will usually give you their username, so click that option and type in their username and press the little plus button. Simple!

Examples

I have so far entered two snapchat competitions, and won twice, so it's safe to say I quickly became a fan. For the first competition, I had to add the promoters (Maze Runners) on snapchat and then take a screenshot of the relevant picture on their story, which was of a maze. I then had to edit the picture so that I completed the maze and upload the result to Twitter. My prize was a brand new iPad mini 4, which will be amazing for taking notes in uni...and a dedicated comping portal of course!

The second competition was more interactive. Again, I had to add the promoter and then view their story, which showed lots of lipsticks. I simply had to send a photo back (I did a super enthusiastic pout) saying which shade was my favourite and, hey presto, I won!

I have seen other competitions which require you to take a selfie in front of advertising and send it to the promoter and put it on your story. Unfortunately, I have never found the poster or billboard on time! Below are my top tips for finding and entering these hard to come by comps!

Search for the win

So how can you be one of the few to enter and perhaps win? Research is the key! The thing about snapchat is that you can't actually search for the competitions on the app, you have to look elsewhere. Twitter is great because you can search for more than one term, try things like 'win snapchat' or 'competition snapchat' which may tell you who is currently running snapchat competitions. My first snapchat win was found on Twitter and then needed me to upload a picture to Twitter. Sometimes, snapchat is just a way to further promote the brand, or perhaps to have less entrants - a bonus if you can get involved - but then requires you to share the results on another site such as Twitter or Facebook.

Google is another great way to source these comps, you can use a filter to search much like you do on Twitter. Superlucky Di has a great blog about this which I have linked here.

Be original

Like most effort competitions, snapchat requires you to be a bit different and stand out from the crowd. If you are taking a selfie, pull a silly face, wear a hat, or take it somewhere cool! It may be easier to take a picture of your feet in a public place, but the bravery of taking a selfie on a crammed bus is sure to earn you brownie points! Also, if the promoter mentions a product in the instructions, make sure that they can see it well and clearly. You don't want to be discounted for not following the rules!

Snapchat has a great feature that lets you edit your pictures by drawing on them. Use the little pen tool at the top corner and choose your colour to get creative and stand out from the crowd!

Along the same lines, you can add a caption to your photo. Maybe if you make them laugh, they may be more likely to pick you! To add text, click the T button (next to the pen tool) and you have a few characters to type something out. You don't have much space, so make each letter count!

Take Time

On Snapchat, you can chose how long the recipient can view your snap for. This is done with the little clock on the bottom left of the screen. Click on that, and choose how long you want. For competitions, put this at the maximum (10 seconds) so that they can really see your entry! Don't worry if you get a notification saying that they have replayed or taken a screenshot of your snap, this just means that they wanted a better look at it!

So there you have it, my beginners tips to becoming a snapchat comper! You can add me on snapchat with lornabeattie and at Twitter I am @LaurieBeat, and let me know how you get on with your snap chatting! You can even send me a tester snap or two, just to get used to it if it is all new to you. Either way, have fun and happy comping.

Monday, 11 January 2016

Many people up and down the country and struggling into their second week of New Years Resolutions, wondering how they will make the next 50 weeks. The answer, shake it up a little. But stop. Before you go online and buy books, spiralizers, tablets and many other fad (and expensive) weight loss solutions, think - how can I do this on a budget?

To start with, fad diets are not the way to go. Personally I am very against them for a number of reasons. Not only are they aimed mainly at making money, they are not sustainable and, a lot of the time, they are NOT healthy. For me, if people want to lose weight, it should be in a way that is healthy (read slow and steady, not sudden weight loss) and shouldn't cost you the world. So, for those who are wanting to shed the pounds, without making their wallets lighter, read on!

1) Youtube is Your New Best Friend

Youtube is a wonderful place where I can spend many happy hours. Alas, it is not only cat videos that reside there (yes, really) I use it for maths help, comping inspiration (check out Superlucky Di) and fitness videos! Rather than spending money on fitness DVDs, simply go over to Youtube where you can find all sorts of different exercise videos! This means that if you are in the mood for yoga one day, boxfit the next and crazy dancing the day after, you have all the videos you need! This keeps your fitness more interesting and therefore you are more likely to stick at it! I love to type in 'learn the dance routine for,..' and then my favourite song that's currently stuck in my head (Sax by Fleur East at the moment)! That way you are learning a new dance routine (look out for me in the nightclubs of Glasgow!), having fun and keeping fit at the same time! What's not to like?

2) Bulk it up!

Vegetables are one of the cheapest and healthiest foods you can buy! As I previously mentioned in my baked bean recipes post, I like to bulk up my meals with vegetables. Rice can be bought reasonable cheap, but many people will be trying to cut down on the amount of carbs consumed so I create rice like texture from vegetables. A 'grate' way to do this is to cook slightly less rice and grate carrots or courgette in to bulk it up, or add some peas. This adds colour and flavour to the rice as well as making it less calorific.

Along the same lines, when making mince dishes like bolognese, try adding an extra tin of tomatoes and using oats to soak up that extra liquid, 1/2 a cup should do it but feel free to add more or less depending on what texture you like! This, along with plenty of veggies like carrots, mushrooms and peas will make your mince dishes stretch much further, allowing you to freeze extra portions for another day! Similarly, adding lentils to mince dishes gives it extra flavour without reducing the protein (note that oats have protein too). Both these additions have less fat and are cheaper than just the mince on its own, and bulking out with veggies is a great way to get your 5-a-day in!

3) Explore!

Walking beats the gym on so many levels - the fresh air, seeing new places, catching up with friends and IT'S FREE! Gym memberships can be expensive, especially if you end up not having the time or motivation for it later in the year! Why not try walking first to see if you can shed the weight without the gym membership? If you live in a city like me, there will be so many places you can go! Walking round museums, parks and old churches burns the same calories as if you were walking on a treadmill and the time will fly by so much faster as you will be interested in going to see things! It's a great thing to do with kids as it takes them away from the tablet or computer and can be very educational! If you live in the countryside, well all the better! Doing a quick google search can reveal loads of walks right on your doorstep that you maybe didn't even know about! Map my walk is a great free app that can show you routes other people take and you can log your own route! Call up a friend and see if they want to join you - away from the computer screens and constant wifi of coffee shops, you will be able to have a proper catch up without spending a penny (no temptations overpriced coffee and diet-ruining cake)! Even when its raining me and my friend donned the welly boots and got out there!

4) Soup-er Savings

A great warming lunch, especially over winter, is soup, with or without a good chunk of bread. It's very healthy and, if you use lentils and pulses to bulk it out a bit, it can be protein packed and therefore stop you snacking as much later in the day. Fresh soup can cost a couple of pounds in the shops but I managed to make 9 portions for just £2.57! I used a whole 1kg of carrots (45p), 2 Baking potatoes (25p), 500g red lentils (£1.10), and a bag of value mixed vegetables (77p) and some spices and seasoning to taste along with as much water as you like to make to your desired thickness. This worked out at just 29p per portion- cheaper even than the value canned soups and with much less salt! These other portions can then be frozen for soup any time! One way to make this even cheaper is to pick vegetables that are on the cheap because they are nearing their sell-by date or are going off in your fridge. Once its all cooked and blended together, no one will know! So go on, be adventurous and let me know any delicious budget friendly soup recipes you come up with!

Good luck with your new years resolutions - maybe this way you will be able to join me in my Money Saving New Years Resolution as well as getting healthier. Let me know how you get on by commenting below or tweeting me @LaurieBeat

Friday, 1 January 2016

It's that time of the year again where people make unrealistic resolutions to go to the gym everyday, totally change their diets or drop everything and move to Barbados and open up a beach bar. Or something like that. So what about joining me in a more realistic resolution - to save a little bit of money each week and put it towards something special. I really wanted to go on a holiday this January, however my student budget couldn't stretch to accommodate it. I have tried to win a holiday (with no luck so far) but am determined that this time next year I will be able to make it to the sunshine. And so each week I am planning on saving some money and putting some away into a savings account so that this time next year I will be packing my sunhat and shorts ready for a bit of winter sun...

1) Take Note and Budget

For me, one of the easiest ways to manage your money is to know exactly how much you have. By purchasing a small diary or using an app on your phone (Free ones such as MoneyHub or Money Lover are good) are a really simple way to keep on top of your spending. Simply by knowing what's going in and out, you can live within your means far easier, and create a budget plan that works for you.

A neat way to keep motivated to sticking to your budget is to create a poster for your wall or fridge outlining what you want to save for and how much you need to save. Then you can split this into manageable chunks and tick them off as you go. I love things like this, as its a constant motivation and helps you see the bigger picture, rather than just getting down about the fact you can't buy ANOTHER little black dress from TopShop! By taking a picture of it and setting it as your phone wallpaper, you will have some motivation wherever you go! Here's mine for my Winter Sunshine Break:

This was great fun to make and would be a brill thing to do with kids to encourage them to think about money. I have drawn inspirations in the gaps to remind me good ways to save and left some blank so that I can add in any I find from other blogs I've read. Every time I add up my savings in my little money diary to be £25, I can tick it off. In fact, I got £40 over Christmas from family, so I will put £25 of that away in my savings account and can tick off one box already. That's a good start to the year!

If you make one of these inspiration boards, tweet me a photo of it using @LaurieBeat and I will retweet my favourites! Your drawings can't be much worse than mine - is it clear I dropped art at school?

2) Every Last Drop

You know that way when its getting to the end of the tube of moisturizer and you feel like you are getting more air out than product? You've shaken, you've stirred, but you're not expecting any more to come out. Well, think again, there's almost always more.

To reveal all of that hidden product, simple snip off the top 1/4 of the tube, making sure to keep it aside for later. Inside this section alone you will find lots of cream. Scoop it out and put it in the remaining part of the tube, who's walls are normally thick with product. Then, squeeze the sides of the tube a little to use the top 1/4 of the tube as a makeshift lid. Sorted! Okay it might not look as good as before, or might not be as practical, but it can make your products last so much longer and, with the price of skincare products these days, that could be a big saving over the year!

This technique can then be applied to toothpaste, shampoo, facewashes...anything really! Go on, give it a shot. You may be surprised how much you normally throw away!!

3) Shop Around

Now, I have spoken before about brand loyalists in my other shopping blog post (click the link to have a quick read, it could save you loads on your weekly bill!), but I know that there are many folk who are loyal to a certain shop too - be it Asda, Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury's or just the local deli shop. However, there is a world of cheap food stores out there, and simply adding them into your weekly shop could save you loads of money.

Discount stores such as Home Bargains and B&M are a favourite of mine - not only do they sell lots of household objects, but also they have a great groceries section. For example, the Alta Rica Nescafe coffee that my dad seems to live off (around £4 in most big supermarkets) can regularly be found for a mere £2.79 in Home Bargains. Fruit and veg is a great one too, and I was over the moon to get 1.5kg of sweetclems for £1. A pound!!! During the winter, these are in season here and so taste amazing, and ward off any nasty colds that could be kicking about - saving you on expensive medicine in the long run! I think one of the most successful buys we get every week is the Cidal soap, which can be found in Boots as a 2-pack for £2. Not too bad, but Home Bargains are selling the individual bars for 19p. Yes, 19 pennies. Bargain indeed!

There is one issue with shopping in places like Home Bargains for your groceries, and that is the lack of consistency, We found an amazing Swiss dark chocolate made by Cailler for an incredible 49p for the 100g bar. By the time we had been home and polished the lot off, the shop had sold out and we have never seen it again. The same can be said for my favourite tea - Tetley Blend Of Both. One week we saw it for £1.49 (£1 cheaper than elsewhere) and stocked up, which was lucky as it is the only time I've ever seen it that cheap. So be warned, enjoy the savings, but you might never see the product again, so don't become too attached!

Poundland and Poundworld are other really great options, but don't fall into the trap of doing all your shopping there, as not everything is a bargain. These places make their money by offering big brands really cheap to attract you in, and then making bigger profit margins on the other things you buy while you are there. Keep in mind the prices of items in other shops - this is all about shopping around remember, not doing all your shopping in one place. Some really great bargains that can be found in the pound shops are the Jordans Frusilli Bars (£1.99 in most supermarkets, and a nightmare to find the exact flavour my mum likes) and Muller Light Chocolate Yogurts - A decadent treat at a fraction of the price (and calories). Working out at 25p a yogurt rather than 50p a yoghurt is quite a saving if you add it all up! Again, be aware of the fact that their product range will change frequently, so be snappy if there is something you know you like or use a lot of - especially non perishable items like toothpaste and soap.

Although to many people it can seem like a lot of effort to go to the different shops, it really is worth making the time! I tend to do a few smaller shops throughout the week - I pop into Iceland on the way home from uni, I grab a few items from Poundland when I'm in the town centre shopping and I swing by Lidl if I'm on that bus route. As long as you keep track of your spending, buying little and often at a variety of shops can really help you save big!

4) Beware the snack packs

It's the New Year and so hundreds of people up and down the country will be vowing to ditch the sweet treats in favour of healthy snacks. Shops so kindly sell 'snack packs' of things like carrot batons, chopped melon and apple slices. But beware the price tag. Those little 80g bags of apple slices in Asda work out at a staggering £6 per kilo. The fact that you can walk into the neighbouring aisle and pick up the same weight of apple for just £1.60 surely must set alarm bells ringing. For just a little extra effort, you can slice the apple at home and put it in a Tupperware, so it's just as handy for on the go. To stop them going brown, simply add some lemon juice to the apple slices and keep them in an air tight container. The saving is incredible, and the effort is totally worth it!

5) A night out to remember

As a student, nights out are a common part of my social life. However, once the drink is flowing, it's all too easy to spend far more than you originally intended (how much money must we spend in chip shops after a night out, when there is yummy toast at home?). Below are some simply tips to make nights out a more affordable affair:

a) Do a clothes swap! Have a night where you invite your friends round and get them all to bring a couple of items of clothing they don't want any more, or doesn't fit. Get in a bottle of wine, and have a great night in where everyone gets to swap an item of clothing and refresh their wardrobe a bit! We had such a fun night doing this, trying on each others clothes and showing off our new looks to each other. It was a great night, and far cheaper than most we go on, and we've saved money on the next night outs outfit! Double win!

b) On the same theme, switch up your nights out a bit. Rather than going to the pub for pre-drinks and then heading to a night club (therefore paying bar prices, and entry fee), try having your friends round to your flat! Or have pre-drinks at home, rather than at the pub. Just make sure to drink responsibly even though you're paying less! At uni, my group of friends decided to do a 'flat crawl' - a much cheaper alternative to the usual 'bar crawl'. We chose 4 peoples flats that were in walking distance of each other and all chipped in £10 for drink to last us the night. At each flat there was a designated drink (similar to a bar crawl) but the drink total was only £10 and no entry fee! It was such a laugh and was great to try something new on a night out!

c) Socialising doesn't have to be all parties though, partying isn't for everyone, but that doesn't mean that we just sit about the house every night! There are loads of free nights available, with a little bit of research. If you live near a university, have a look on their website to see if there are any talks going on.These can be so interesting, and you can meet some really cool like-minded people. As a little plus, there are often free drinks and nibbles afterwards! Similarly, there are often book talks from authors (check your local library), shop openings and markets. These can all make great nights out, without paying a penny! A really great book for ideas on this is 'How I Lived a Year on a Pound a Day' by Kath Kelly. I have written a review on this book that you can read here.

So there you go, these are my Day to Day Money Saving Tips that will hopefully set your New Year off to a great start! Set your sights on something you want to save for, and it can be possible with just a little bit of re-juggling and some smart thinking.

Do you have any money saving tips? If so comment below or tweet me at @LaurieBeat. Happy New Year - may it be filled with money saving magic!